THE odd, if not confusing, thing about the garden
wall that still stands where the Elizabethan garden was, is that it is a building!

As records show, the wall became a
Grade 2 listed building on August 1, 1986. That is the date on an entry on
the English Heritage website.

A summary in the entry says it is "listed under the
Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, as amended, for its
special architectural or historic interest."

The description says it was constructed from "small red
bricks in English Garden Walled Bond (see the note and image below right) with
stone dressing".

In the north wall - part of which has collapsed
- is "a small door into the field north of the wall." The door was in the part
of the wall which collapsed.

In general the wall has "a projecting stone, dressed brick piers
and a massive stone lintel with chamfered and slightly cambered head surmounted
by a coved and weathered coping."

At this point the description of the wall
uses facts from the well-known "A History of the Town and Parish of Nantwich" by James Hall, 1883.

The walled area is the kitchen garden of Townsend
House, which stood behind a high brick wall in Welsh Row. It might have had an
area for flowers as well. See here.

The house was visited
by King James I in 1617, was twice destroyed by fire, and was a mainly 19th
century building which was demolished in 1965, say the details.

They continue: "Even before the final
demolition, part of the site, south of the walled garden, had been used for a
Magistrates Office and Police Station."

The details refer to a commercial garage
occupying the site of the house.

But that, too, has vanished into history and
King's Court has replaced the garage. The Police Station has since been
converted to private residences.

This page is based on information I
used in an article I researched and wrote as webmaster of the Nantwich Walled
Garden Society's website.

I was not a member
of the NWGS, but designed and ran the website for them from 2004.

Townsend
House is now demolished, but this is as it would have been seen in the garden
which stood behind a high wall fronting on to Welsh Row.

This is not the walled garden that is
the subject of the NWGS campaign.

The image is a "rough
sketch" produced in May 1934 by Nantwich artist Herbert St John Jones
and is one of several paintings by the artist on show in the Museum.

Image
used by permission of

Nantwich Museum

AN
explanation as to how a garden wall can be described as a building
is given by Wikipedia, “the free encyclopedia” to be found on the
Internet.

That says: “Although
most structures appearing on the lists are buildings, other
structures such as bridges, monuments, sculptures, war memorials and
even milestones and mileposts and The Beatles' Abbey Road pedestrian
crossing are also listed.”

l
Pictured is an example of the English Garden Wall Bond used in
construction. This is not the walled garden wall. This was
constructed in 1895. Picture: A Dabber's Nantwich.